Experiences in England

That was really good fun one week in England, no school, no homework and a new world. All our pupils were anxious a few weeks before our trip. We talked only about this journey to Herne Bay. After leaving our parents behind us we were involved in some of the rules of the journey. We learned a little bit about the English culture and living.So everyone knew how to behave in England and in our host families. On our route we were passing the Netherlands, Belgium and France. So we had some impressions from our neighbour countries. By getting nearer to England the weather got better
and better. After about seven hours we were at Calais and waited for the ferry. Lots of us did not drove by ferry before so they had another experience on their way to England. Some of them were a little bit seasick but it wasn’t to terrible and all in all we had a nice trip to Dover. Some of us were on deck and enjoyed the wind and the nice view. The others were inside the ferry and enjoyed a niceservice. After getting to Dover we could see the famous white cliffs of Dover, but there were two problems. In Germany it was an hour later and we were driving on the right side. So wegot used driving on the left side.
In the late afternoon we came to Herne Bay. The weather was still fine and the first host families picked up some of us. Only one pair of pupils had to wait because of a misunderstanding, but it wasn’t a real problem.

On the next day we discovered that the host families were nice and that everybody was content with them. Some of us had to get used to another food but all in all it was great. We were looked after well and some of us were allowed to use a play station or other multimediathings. On Monday our first day trip went to Canterbury. After a short drive (about half an hour) we were there and our teachers led us to the centre of Canterbury. Now we had a little free time. Then we had the chance to visit the Cathedral of Canterbury and we used it. Everyone of us was impressed by this cathedral and by listening to our English guide, who told us about the history of the cathedral and about the persons who had lived there a long time ago. We heard about the method of building and the exciting history but not everyone of us could imagine these things. So we had listened to our guide about one and a half hours before starting the Canterbury town rally. So in little groups we walked through Canterbury and asked some people about some things in Canterbury and learned a lot. We got through the city to some interesting and some less interesting buildings. Going across the town we did some other things like shopping (postcards, clothes…), eating fish and chips for our first time or eating the lunch packets of our host families. After this free time we went to the Canterbury Tales and listened to the stories the persons in the multimedia house were telling us. So we’ve learned a lot about the history of Canterbury. Then we had a little bit free time and we were allowed to do everything we liked to. We could go shopping or eating or something like thisin little groups. We stayed in shops for clothes or computers, asked people about nice things to see, went through the city and took a lot of photos. Afterwards we went back to the bus and drove back to our host families. We were really happy about this, because we could recreate from this hard day and prepare for the next day that would be much longer.

On the next day we went to the capital of Great Britain: London. Some of us had been to London before and told us something about this beautiful place, but for most of us it was the first time. It was really exciting to drive there and we could get out of the bus for the first time at Cleopatra’s Needle. There we took a lot of nice photos and videos and it was real fun. Soon after this our guide came and we got on the bus to explore London. We made a sight seeing tour and were She given lots of tips for our second trip to London on Thursday. It was good that we made a bus tour because it was raining all the time. Because this we couldn’t take real nice photos but it was really funny to watch us in the bus, because when the guide told us about something on the left all pupils went to the left side of the bus and if she told us about something on the right side the whole bus went to the right side. Apart from seeing the typical sights of London, e.g. Tower of London or Big Ben the guide told us about the shopping mall of London, Oxford Street with nice shops in there. We learned a lot about a lot of sights and some of the nice London people waved to us so we had a lot of fun. Some other events were the nice red buses of London and the black taxis or the telephone and post boxes. After this sightseeing tour we had a little bit of free time to spend in London. Some of us bought a one day ticket for the London tube, others explored the town by feet. The only problem was the terrible rain. But many London people told us about some sights or places and how to get there or answered our questions.

In the afternoon we went to the Globe Theatre where we attended a workshop. Before this our group leaders took us to the copy of the old Globe and told us about the important things of the theatre. On top of that they told us much about the history of the theatre and the time of William Shakespeare. All in English. We were allowed to enjoy the impressions by going on stage. It gave us the creeps. After this we were divided into (two) groups and went into another building next door to practise the most popular play of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. After a funny warming up the groups were divided for a second time into two groups. On the one hand you had the Capulets on the other you had Montegues. The two groups stood opposite each other. We had to act all the main characters of our family so we had great fun. But, you know, the whole play ends in a catastrophe. So our act ended in a catastrophe, too. In my group there was Sonja. She had cratches. She had to play an extra role. Sonja was the prince of Verona, because she wasn’t allowed to play the other roles because we had to move quickly.
Later on we had to wait for about half an hour for our bus and we had the chance of a lifetime to take photos of London by night. After this long, hard day everyone of us felt tired and dropped into the beds. We were all happy because our next day would not be not so hard.

On Wednesday we had to get to Dover, the city, which is known for its harbour. But this day, we visited Dover Castle. This time we learned a lot about the fog of Britain. Lots of people had told us about this before, but nobody could imagine how hard it really was. The most important problem with the fog was that we weren’t allowed to go into the tunnels and that itwas impossible to take good photos. However we learned about the “horribly nice” security. The persons at the gate told us that we could go into the castle in little groups without a guide but the security inside the castle told us to stay with our teachers. So without any warning they held some of us inside the castle until our teachers solved the problem. After this we left Dover behind us and drove to Ashford. In Ashford there is a big outlet centre, so we had a lot of time to go shopping in there. Some of us shopped, others relaxed and after about two hours we left Ashford and went to Whitstable. At this place we were allowed to do what we wanted to do. So we bought tea, sent post cards and bought souvenirs. In the late afternoon we took a lot of photos of the beautiful countryside. On the beach we found lots of shells and there was a big crab, so some of us were not really amused. After this relaxing day we were sad because we had to pack our clothes for the next day. This was our last day in the families. It was not good that we had to leave them at this time, because we had made friends with them, got closer to them and learned a lot about there Daily Life. However we had to pack, because we had to put our bags into the coach the next morning. Lots of us took photos of our host families, talked to them a last time, swapped e-mail-addresses and other things. So everyone of us slept the last time at Herne Bay.

The next day was the big day of saying good bye. The families were hugged and we said good bye for the last time. After this we went to London for a second time. But at first we went to Greenwich to visit the nice Maritime Museum. Before we had a little bit of free time to enjoy the weather and the view from a park over London. Afterwards we visited the museum for few hours before having a boat tour on the Thames. It was a really different view of London.
The worst thing was that there was a lot of rain. On arriving at the Embankment, lots of us went to the tube station to buy a one-day ticket for ten persons (with the help of the teachers).
Some of us liked travelling by tube so much that they didn’t do anything else on this day.
Others went to other sights, e.g. Tower Bridge, to look at it and – of course – to take photos.
Because of the bad weather lots of us were went by tube. It was really surprising that the weather got much better while we were underground We did not only visit the sights like Trafalgar Square. Of course we visited Oxford Street with the nice shops in it. Many of us stayed at the biggest toy shop of Europe and others imagined how to live later in front of Svarovski. Our group was allowed to enjoy one of the red busses of London because of a friendly bus driver. So after this exciting London trip everyone came back to Embankment.

As it was now time to leave England for good, our teachers counted the pupils very carefully.
At first it seemed some pupils were missing so they had to count again. Then there were even more pupils counted than expected. Finally, after the third time counting the correct number of students were counted. For most of us it was really hard to say goodbye. After looking at London for the last time at night we went on to France. Many pupils fell asleep at once, others when waiting for the ferry. We waited two hours! On these way back we had more problems sea-sickness so everyone was happy to leave the ferry. Not all of us slept but the bigger part did. Most of us woke up in the early morning, the others in the late morning. We drove to Germany fast and much faster we were in Coesfeld. Coming back with delay all our parents waited for us. At home everyone could make up for lost sleep.
Concluding you can say that everyone of us was sad to leave England. Some of us maybe
because we had no school others because of their families and others because of the beautiful
countryside of England. And others maybe because of our teachers, e.g. Mr. Müter (Muter) who gave a two voices’ concert with his mouth organ for two birthday kids. Later on he sang the wrong text. Or Mrs. Schäfer (Schafer) who showed us her leadership more than one time by going ahead fast or telling us some interesting things about England. Or Mr. Overmeyer who got lost with a whole group of students. Later he found us. He counted us again and again by hoping that maybe one pupil was missing.
All in all you can say that everybody is happy about our journey to England and I think everybody would go there for a second time if we were asked.
So I think this England trip was really nice and I will do it again if you ask me. Some of the things that we did I won’t make them like this way but all in all it was a really nice trip. But I think sometimes we had not got enough free time on the right places and sometimes we had more than enough free time. I think it was really funny to go through London and I think everyone of us learned a lot about England. Except that I think it was not long enough, but however it was a nice trip and we took very nice photos and I’m speaking English a little bit better – maybe.